


When the Storm Ended

by NellDaie



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, MC's name is Emma, Yoosung's sister
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-20
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-09-18 19:52:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9400625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NellDaie/pseuds/NellDaie
Summary: Yoosung has a sister. She's older than him, and has a pretty good life. But when he gets a call from his parents, he quickly learns that things are not always as they seem. Rating may change to explicit later, because I am undecided if I want to do sexy stuff. Romance between Saeran and Yoosung's sister. I realize that I didn't explain the time gap very well T_T So, this is intended to be about 5 years after the events of Secret After Ending 2. So- Yoosung is 25 and Aejun is 30.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been thinking about this story for awhile so I hope everyone enjoys! This is mostly a prologue to set things up, so PLEASE tell me what you think! In this story, Saeyoung and MC are already together.

Yoosung could remember the moment he realized how much he loved his sister. Aejun was always the apple of their parents' eye- which always caused him to try so hard in school. He was in high school, and she was already in college. He had bombed a test, and locked himself in his room, feeling so completely worthless. A soft knock on his door caused him to cease his self pitying.

"What is it?" he sniffled. 

"Yoosung! Hurry! It's an emergency!" his sister's frantic voice resounded through the room. He picked himself up hurriedly and scrambled to the door. He flung it open and stared expectantly at Aejun, waiting to hear what had happened. She stared back intently, he hands behind her back. 

"W- what is it?" he asked, a little disconcerted with the sudden staring contest.

"It's an emergency that calls for kittens." she said intently. He didn't have time to ask what the hell she meant before a tiny Calico kitten was thrust in his arms. "Her name is Muppet- she's going to be living with me when I move out next week. Since you were in here moping, I thought you needed something soft to cuddle." 

He gazed at the tiny ball of fur in his hands that was purring contentedly. He slowly started to smile as he pet and gently cradled her in his arms. Aejun cleared her throat, "you're pretty smart, you know?" Yoosung waited for her to continue, still fixated on Muppet.

"I know you're probably upset about something silly, like a test. But after next week, I won't be able to see you much anymore. I know we've never been best friends, but before I left, I really wanted to tell you that you're smart, you're talented, and I'm proud you're my little brother. So give yourself some slack, okay?"

She had never given him any type of sisterly advice before, so when a concerned look came over his face, she just giggled. "Don't worry- I'm not dying. I just wanted to be closer to you before I got married."

And that was it. That was the memory that ingrained his sister's love for him in his mind. He remembered the joy he felt at being told for the first time that it was okay to fail sometimes, as well as the joy of his older sister getting married. He remembered Muppet's purring and softness of her multicolored fur. As Yoosung sat in the taxi that would take him to the hospital, he remembered all of these things. And he wanted to vomit with how angry he was at his optimism at the time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10 years is how long she had been married. And 10 years was how long she was enduring the abuse. She had married a fairly successful executive. She dressed in nice clothes and showed up to all the parties at his side. But when things didn't go well at work, or if someone pissed him off at any point that day, he would go home and beat her to within an inch of her life. Unfortunately, he got angry A LOT. If there was an event they had to attend, her bruises would be centralized to her abdomen. If there wasn't, she would be secluded to the house for weeks until they healed. 

But while she waited in the house and nursed her tender skin, Aejun started to realize that this wasn't the life she planned. She realized that it had been over 10 years and things weren't getting better. She wanted to tough it out and believed that his abuse was just stress. She was a perfectionist. While she told others that it was okay to fail, she never held that belief herself. She didn't want to fail at marriage, but on this day, she sat and waited. She was prepared to end it. If it was going to end, it was going to end on her terms. 

Her husband came home and started screaming. Aejun didn't bat an eye as he started his tirade. She could feel the storm coming, and her skin seemed to prickle at its ascent. As she stood in the kitchen preparing dinner, he came behind her and grabbed her arm. She doesn't remember much, but she knows that he stabbed by the knife she had been chopping cabbage with. The police said 47 times. She could only remember the first one. He had been so angry after that one, he beat her mercilessly. To her, it was all a blur.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Yoosung burst through the door of her hospital room, nurses trailing behind him and begging him to sign in. All he could do was stare. His older sister, his smart, beautiful older sister looked like a hollow shell in the bed. She looked like a depressed art student's interpretation of what a person looked life. Her chestnut brown hair hung limply, framing her pale, puffy face. The only color on her at all laid in the myriad of bruises- both old and new- littering her body. If they were flowers, the mixtures of yellow, purple and red would almost make a beautiful bouquet. But there was no beauty, there was just a shattered and broken Aejun that looked at him...smiling?

"Ae...what the hell happened? WHAT THE FUCK?!" His parents both jumped at the curse word. They had never been fond of cursing and had similarly taught Yoosung the same preference. But they said nothing at tears streamed down his face. Aejun beckoned him toward the bed, scooting over as she patted the space next to her. Yoosung just stare incredulously.

"Sit down, it's a request from a sick person. You kind of have to do it. Or...I dunno. You'll have bad luck or be cursed or something." She smiled as wide as she could without pulling out the stitches on her lower lip. Yoosung muddled over and carefully sat beside her. She gingerly placed her head on his shoulder and turned to the side, shielding her face from most eyes in the room. He could feel tears plop down onto his shirt at irregular intervals. But her voice was strangely calm.

"This is what I need to get better. My cute little brother. Ah, I shouldn't call you cute- you've actually become pretty handsome. I miss your brown hair, though..." Yoosung was still listening, but remembered suddenly that Aejun had always had a bad habit of rambling on when she was nervous. And his parents had said nothing since he arrived. 

"You guys...what is it?" He asked, unsure is he really wanted to know the answer. His father cleared his throat.

"We want Aejun to live with you for a little while. I know you have a fairly small apartment, but she can't go home to...that place anymore and we live too far out in the country for her to comfortably get the care she needs right now." It was so logical. Why were they concerned? He felt a pang of embarrassment that they assumed he would put up a fight about this. He remembered how hard he fought when his mom had visited last year and realized the impression that may have had on them. He shook his head.

"Of course she can." He smiled, somewhat forced,"maybe I'll do better on my final exams this semester if she helps me study." Aejun lifted her head from his shoulder and gave him another painful, but brilliant smile. She looked genuinely excited, and that was flattering to him. He hugged her, curious and excited that they would get to spend more time together. He just wished it could have been under better circumstances...


	2. First Impressions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! I was really stuck as to how to progress the story naturally, so I hope the wait was worth it!

Shortly after moving in with her little brother, Aejun was starting to settle in nicely. She enjoyed cooking for Yoosung, considering he really didn't have much skill in that area, and was excited to help with his dubious grades. Much to her chagrin, her parents set up therapy sessions in the city. They were starting next week, but she really wished they didn't have to start at all. She sighed, dreading the inevitable, as she chopped cabbage for Mom's beloved kimchi recipe. 

Yoosung bound through the door, looking more excited than she'd seen him in a long time. His cheeks were flushed and he looked startlingly like the little kid she grew up with.

"What are you doing tonight?" He asked, almost out of breath.

"I thought I was cooking dinner for you- why?" She responded, finishing up her chopping and dropping the cabbage into a bowl.

"Don't worry about that! I want you to meet my friends!" He said excitedly, taking the bowl of cabbage from her hands and placing it in the fridge. 

"Aw jeez, fine..." She mumbled as she washed her hands. She glanced at the marks on her arms- cigarette burns, bruise and scars marred the flesh. She knew how uncomfortable it would make people. Thankfully, with some makeup and damn good medicine, her face didn't show much evidence of what had happened only a little over a week ago.

Yoosung was so happy talking about his friends, she had to smile. She grabbed a couple of things from her suitcase and shut his bedroom door to get dressed. At the moment, they somewhat shared his small room and alternated nights occupying it. She was excited that tonight was her turn. If anything happened that upset her, it would be nice to have a place to cry in private without worrying her little brother. 

Aejun changed into simple black leggings with a red long- sleeve shirt. She was going to be burning up, but she didn't really feel like explaining her injuries to anyone- nevertheless strangers. As she was gingerly applying her makeup, she started to take note of the things she liked. Her brown hair had started to regain it's shine, and the dark circles under her bright blue eyes had begun to fade. She reapplied a small, flesh colored bandage to her temple- an expensive little thing that reduced the appearance of scars. She smiled and headed out.

On the way to "The Bunker", as Yoosung called it (seriously, what kind of people was he hanging out with?), she learned that this was a meeting to talk about some fundraiser. She vaguely remembered him and Rika mentioning it once or twice before. She recalled reading about it once in the papers as well. She felt excitement and nervousness when she learned she would be meeting THE Zen, along with Jumin Han. They pulled up to an unassuming house in the suburbs with an unusually high fence. After Yoosung mumbled some kind of code to a box guarding the front gate (was that Arabic? when did he learn Arabic?), they were granted access. 

Stepping into the house was like stepping into a Toys R Us merged with a baby clothing store. Everything was bright and colorful, and weird electronic animals, board games and various computer components were scattered around the vicinity. The apparent owner of the baby clothes came from around the corner to greet them. She had medium length brown hair (can she even see through those bangs?) and an enormous pregnant belly protruding from beneath a comfortable looking mint dress. 

"Emma!" Yoosung exclaimed, embracing her. She laughed, and Aejun realized she loved this woman's laugh- it was so warm. 

"You must be Aejun." She clasped Aejun's hand in both of hers and shook it, smiling. "I'm Emma. C'mon, everybody's planning in the other room. But honestly, they're mostly just arguing." Emma proceeded to lead them to an enormous kitchen and dining room, where 5 more people were gathered around a table with various snacks placed in the middle. The two that she recognized from t.v. were screaming at each other about cats or something. Emma cleared her throat, unsuccessfully. She grew obviously annoyed and slammed her foot down.

"HEY!!" The silence was immediate and deafening. Everyone's eyes fixated on them. "Yoosung is here. And he brought Aejun". Aejun waved and smiled awkwardly. Yoosung was quick to point everyone out, talking again with the excited furor of a grade schooler.

"You probably know those two- Zen and Jumin Han...and that's Jaehee Kang- she's the one that used to be Jumin's assistant...and those two are the Choi twins-" Yoosung was cut off as an Oreo crashed into his head. 

"DON'T LUMP ME IN WITH HIM!" The noticeably more sullen of the twins shouted. The other one clasped onto him like a parasitic bug while he struggled.

"Saeraaan, why can't you love meeee?" He whined. The commotion started up again and Emma scrambled to fill in the gaps while Yoosung ran to confront Saeran about his Oreo assault. 

"That's Saeyoung- my husband- and the pissy looking one is Saeran. They have a...complicated relationship." Aejun must have shown the concern on her face, because Emma continued hastily, "but they're loads better than they WERE. Saeran lives with us and he's actually coming out of his room to do more than eat and use the bathroom..." She trailed off, maybe realizing that SOME progress didn't mean success. 

It was a fairly fun evening. Aejun learned that she would mostly help with setting up the day before the party, along with Saeran. She was happy that this was HIS first time doing this kind of thing as well. When she mentioned that to him, smiling, he just gave her a disdainful look and a 'tch'- earning scorn from Emma and Jaehee. She managed to end the night with an autograph and a picture with Zen- she didn't bring anything with her for him to sign, so he just ended up signing her phone case. And no one mentioned her long sleeves. 

Aejun was in such a good mood when they returned to Yoosung's apartment, she convinced him to help her create a character on LoLoL, and he helped her level up for the rest of the night. They ended up both passing out in the bedroom- him at his computer desk and her on the floor with her tiny but mighty laptop. It was odd, but the last thing she remembered before falling asleep was Saeran's clothes. He was wearing long sleeves in the Summer, too.


	3. Hey, you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aejun starts therapy and meets someone unexpected.

Aejun enjoyed riding the bus. It was a brief respite from Yoosung's small apartment. Normally, she didn't enjoy embarking to the outside world very much, but the agreement with her parents that she would see the stupid therapist was absolute. It was fun to watch the different types of characters on the bus and create stories for them. There was an old man that looked like he stepped out of a Sex Pistols video- she affectionately dubbed him Punky Brewster and vowed to think of a really good story for him.

 

_Look at that girl. I can almost see her womb, that skirt is so short. Wait- how old is she? Do her parents know she's here? I bet she's running away to be with her boyfriend. Oh! That's a good one...I'll call her...Floopy Wonderbra._

As she was cataloging her people- watching inventory for the day, a shock of red hair caught her eye. She knew she had seen it before, and she chewed her lip as she wondered if her memory was correct. She decided she would have to get a better look. She stood up, adjusting her shirt sleeves nervously as she started to make her way casually to the curious figure. She oh-so-casually reached her destination and turned to get a better look at his face. As she did so, a loud curse could be heard from the bus driver. He slammed on the brakes and she was unceremoniously flung across the man. Her face scrunched painfully against the window and she turned her head to apologize, not realizing that when she did so, she would be nose- to- nose with the seat's occupant. She was pleased to see that she was at least correct about the identity. "Hey...Saeran...right?" She mumbled nervously as he gave her a death glare. She lowered herself onto the seat next to him and attempted to engage him further. "Do you remember me? We met a couple weeks ago..I'm Yoosung's sister...Aejun?" He continued to stare, but at least he turned his head to look at her. She hadn't realized when they first met because she was so overwhelmed by everyone else, but he was actually pretty handsome. His mint green eyes were extremely easy to stare into. She continued her mental indexing of his features- noting subtle scars here and there and pinkish cheeks.

_Wait...is he embarrassed?  Holy crap, that's adorable. Shit- how long have I been staring? Oh God, he's not glaring at me anymore. He just looks confused now._

 

"Yeah, I remember you." He said plainly. His voice almost had a soft, child-like lilt to it. She could feel herself starting to blush at how excited she was getting just talking to him. 

 

"So...where are you going?" She asked, wanting to keep this exchange going. She might have asked a bad question, though, because his face hardened up. 

 

"None of your damn business." He spat. Aejun was a bit taken aback by the hard edge his voice now adopted. 

 

"Um...okay." She said simply. She felt defeated. She wasn't really interested in guys right now, but a friend besides her own brother would have been nice. The ride continued in silence as passengers came and went. Finally, her stop came up. But before she could make a move to stand up, Saeran was lifting himself up next to her and shuffling past. She knew it was in bad taste, but she couldn't help herself staring at his butt as he brushed by her. Well, she wouldn't DATE guys- but she sure as Hell could look. She would also probably never be this close to the twin again, so she was going to take any chance she got. She scrambled up hurriedly before the doors started to close. She stepped off the bus and turned in the direction of the clinic. She grimaced, but started towards her destination through the throng of people on the busy city street. When she finally reached the imposing glass doors, she saw the same shock of red hair heading up the same set of stairs she would have to use. 

 

It was at that moment that Aejun was overcome with an unsettling urge to know more about this man. She wanted to know about every one of his scars, about the long sleeves he wore and the "complicated" relationship with his brother. For the first time in a VERY long time, she was determined. She made a silent vow that she would absolutely make a friend and Saeran would be her friend whether he liked it or not- dammit.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Saeran left his shrink feeling pretty good. He would never admit it to Saeyoung, but that idiot actually had a good idea for once. He had pestered him for months to go, and it was only in a bid to shut him up that he agreed. Somehow, though, he felt like the knot of anxiety and pain from his past was starting to untangle bit by bit. He stepped out into the aroma- ridden smell of the city and was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Aejun looking...mad? He was trying to decipher her reason for being mad at him when she piped up.

 

"Walk me home." She said plaintively. He stared at her incredulously.

 

"Excuse me? Isn't Yoosung's apartment about an hour away walking?" She puffed up her cheeks and looked to the side.  _Cute..._ he thought, surprised at the swift reaction he had to a girl pouting.

 

"Well yeah, it is." She continued, "but exercise is good for you and I need exercise and it's a nice day outside and..." she was trailing off, running out of reasons. Saeran started to walk away.

 

"Nope. You can walk yourself. It's not even dark out and you're a big girl." He put his hand up in the air, waving goodbye as he sauntered toward the bus stop. 

 

"Ice cream!!" She shouted. Saeran stopped, turning his head slightly.

 

"What did you say?"

 

"Walk me home and I'll buy you ice cream! Or coffee or food or whatever you want!" She almost sounded desperate. Saeran tried to hide the excited tone in his voice as he replied.

 

"Fine. Ice cream it is. If you're THAT desperate." He was surprised at Aejun's exuberance as she smiled and nodded, pointing their way down the street. She talked about A LOT of things as they took the 15 minute walk to the ice cream place. More than Saeran ever really wanted to know about the Kims (and some of it he already DID know) was crammed into his brain. Oddly enough, he didn't mind it so much. Aejun had an extremely expressive face, and he found himself smiling at her various emotions playing out. He realized that he didn't know why she was even living with her brother. Yoosung mentioned her, but declined to comment about why she was there.

 

After getting their ice cream cones- his was mint chocolate chip and hers was birthday cake flavored- Saeran decided to initiate some conversation.

 

"So, why are you staying with gamer boy Kim?" He asked nonchalantly. She slowed a bit and took her time licking the ice cream. Saeran realized it might have been a bad question, but also realized that her slow licking of the ice cream was severely distracting. He looked away and felt a slight blush creep to his cheeks. Thankfully, she answered.

 

"Yoosung's place is close to the clinic I go to for therapy. You didn't notice because I went in after you, but apparently we go to the same place. So...maybe if you walk me home like this, I'll tell you eventually. If you tell me why you're going." Saeran contemplated this while he crunched into the quickly disappearing cone. He was surprised that she was going to therapy. She didn't seem like she had any baggage, really. He wasn't sure he ever really wanted to unload his own baggage onto anyone, but he definitely wanted to know ab out hers. Sure, he could look it up himself, but for the first time, he actually wanted to get to know someone by having them tell him. Saeran realized that Aejun's normally expressive face was blank, and her eyes stared into something...dark.

 

"Fine." He said. 

 

"Cool." She replied. 

 

The two walked to the university apartment complex, making small talk the whole way. It was still mostly Aejun chatting, but Saeran found himself feeling complacent at the exchange. He let her walk the rest of the way to Yoosung's particular dwelling when they arrived at the complex, not wanting to bother explaining what he was doing walking Aejun home to that kid.

 

When he arrived back at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Choi, dinner was on the table and Emma was hurriedly setting plates for the three of them. Saeyoung came out of his office and looked at Saeran, smiling. 

 

"You look like you're in a good mood. Did something happen?" Saeran's immediate reaction was to tell him to go fuck himself. But he responded instead with, "yeah. Something kind of interesting happened today." He had a slight smile as he sat down at the dinner table, fending off requests from his twin to talk about his day.

 

 


	4. Kiss Me Through the Phone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saeran and Aejun exchange phone numbers. There is some explicit sexy stuff at the end so um...enjoy ~_^

This was their 3rd time walking home, and Aejun was getting impatient. She had asked for Saeran's phone number last week, and he declined. She stared at the pocket that housed the offending piece of technology. Ice cream was always the norm after therapy for them, so she absent- mindedly licked hers while plotting ways to steal his number. The silence dragged on pretty long before Saeran coughed awkwardly, pulling Aejun out of her ingenious plan involving levers, pulleys and a wombat.

"Do you normally stare at your friends' crotches or is mine special?" He said flatly. Aejun coughed, laughing at his usual dead- pan delivery. She also realized something important.

"You called me a friend!" She said, the excitement of a 5 year old showing on her face. Saeran turned pink.

"It was an accident." He said quickly. She grinned and poked his cheek as she finished off the last of her ice cream cone. While Saeran initially flinched at the sudden contact- he also felt oddly okay if it was her.

"Nuh uh~" She teased. "So, since we're friends now, we should have each other's phone numbers." Saeran tossed the rest of his ice cream in a nearby trashcan, suddenly feeling an unfamiliar, nervous twist in his stomach. Well, it wasn't COMPLETELY unfamiliar- he had this same feeling last week the first time she asked to exchange numbers. He begrudgingly had all of the RFA members in his contacts, but it didn't feel this way when he exchanged numbers with them. Aejun made him feel...weird.

He realized that she had stopped walking a couple feet back and he turned to look at her. She was standing there in her usual pants and long sleeve shirt with a determined look on her face. The orange of the setting sun glinted off of her blue eyes, making them almost ethereal in the way they shined.

"Fine." He said, trying to hide how taken aback he was by how she looked. Saeran wasn't a fan of eye contact or really looking at other people. But when he looked at Aejun, he was always amazed by how pretty she was. He had always snickered that Yoosung was such a pretty boy, he should have been born a girl. But his sister was the living embodiment of that- albeit with gentler features and a different eye color. When he thought about it, comparing Rika, Yoosung and now Aejun, he realized that the family must have pretty good genes.

Saeran and Aejun exchanged numbers and he found himself happier with that fact than he thought he would be. It helped that Aejun skipped happily next to him and chatted on and on about her week. She was excited that her parents were going to drop off her cat over the weekend.

"I haven't told Yoosung yet. But he loves Muppet, so I think he'll be okay with it. I actually think he thought that Muppet might've died when-" She cut herself off abruptly. Saeran watched her eyes get that same dark, distant look they had before when he'd asked her why she was staying with her brother.

"You don't have to say anything." He said simply.

"I- I want to, but.." She responded hastily.

"Well, I don't want to talk so really, it's fine. We'll talk about all that depressing shit when it's an equal exchange." Aejun smiled at how pragmatic Saeran could be. There was comfort in being around someone who didn't act on emotion all the time. They reached their usual drop- off point at the front of the apartment complex. She turned to Saeran and smiled.

"I'm happy you're my friend, Saeran." He gave her a small, almost unseen smiled in return.

"Yeah, me too." She waved goodbye and hurried through the gate. Saeran felt that knot in his chest starting to untangle a little more. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later, and Saeran was understanding why teenagers were on their phones so much. Aejun would text him funny thing, or dumb things Yoosung would do, and he found himself feeling lighter whenever her name would pop up on his screen.

 

Aejun:   

 

Saeran: What the hell is that?!

 

Aejun: It's Muppet! ╰(▔∀▔)╯

 

Saeran: That's not a cat, that's a bowling ball.

 

Aejun: Well, maybe I overfed her A BIT...

 

Saeran: Yeah. Just a bit. Maybe.

 

Aejun: That's ends today! It's kitty calisthenics from now on! Every morning!! (≧∇≦)/

 

Saeran let out a small chortle at the thought of that fat cat doing any kind of exercise. Unfortunately, he let it out while sitting on the couch next to his brother. Saeyoung's head immediately snapped in the direction of Saeran, his eyes glinting with excitement. 

"What's so funny? And besides that, who have you been texting lately??" Saeran scowled at him.

"No one. I've been writing fanfiction about murdering you is all." Saeyoung immediately put on his mock hurt face and leapt onto Saeran.

"Brother~ I love you~ Don't worry, you can tell me anything~~!!" Saeran tried to fend him off, and they ended up falling off the couch and wrestling on the floor, Saeran's phone forgotten and wedged between the cushions. 

 

Later that night, as Saeran was settling into bed, he glanced at his phone charging in the corner of the room. He had the sudden urge to.. text her? No, that wasn't it. He thought about it for a while, sleep never being something that came easily to him anyway. He flipped on his left side and stared at the wall. That's what he wanted. He wanted her next to him. These were his most private moments, and right now, he would selfishly indulge in thoughts of her. He thought that she must be warm, like a little heater. She would probably wear something cute to bed, like an oversized t- shirt. He didn't have many t-shirts that he bought himself (most of his wardrobe consisted of hand- me- downs from Saeyoung), but he imagined her in one of his own, blushing furiously. She would definitely be shy, right? Wait, shy about what? Saeran drifted off to sleep thinking about these things, and realized in the morning why it might have been a mistake.

 

"Saeran, this is really embarrassing" Aejun meekly admitted. She stood in front of him with a black Metallica t-shirt and no panties. Her hands were in front of her lap, cautiously pulling down the front of the shirt.

 

"what are you so shy about? Your body isn't shy." He noted as he walked closer to her. Her face turned a deep crimson red as his fingers dipped down between her legs and into her sex. She started to moan, her hands clenching and releasing in time with her own body. Saeran pulled his hand back amid protests from Aejun, and licked his fingers. He leaned forward and grabbed her hair, pulling her head to the side and whispered in her ear, "you taste good." He could feel the heat emanating off of her body. 

 

She pulled back and reached for his shirt. She stripped it off of him with ease and her delicate hands traced his tattoo and the various cigarette scars on his chest. Her lips followed, and together they blazed a heated path down to his navel. Her tongue dipped in and her fingers played with the curly orange hair leading below his lounge pants. She grasped the band and yanked down impatiently. She was greeted by the sight of his fully erect manhood. She stared at it for a minute before looking up at him as she slowly slid it into her mouth. He moaned at the intense eye contact and sensation of wetness combining together. She brought her soft figures up to stroke him as she swallowed him, resulting in a never ending chain of pleasure. He felt himself getting close, but he couldn't end it yet. 

 

He stilled her head and hands and pulled his throbbing erection out of her mouth. She looked up at him quizzically before he lifted her up and threw her on the bed. She yelped in surprise before he was on her, kissing her deeply and massaging her tongue with his own. She moaned into his mouth and he felt himself grow even harder and the vibrating sensation it made. He broke the kiss and impatiently relieved her of his shirt. He stared at her as she lay writhing below him. Her lips were pink and parted, matching her flushed cheeks and chest. Her nipples were pert and begging to be pinched. A wetness glistened between her legs. She ran her fingers through his his hair and arched her back, begging for more of him. He growled and grabbed her wrists. 

 

"You're being a naughty girl, it seems to me like you're far too impatient." Which was funny for him to say, because he was the one that was starting to feel desperate. She wiggled her butt and begged him, "please...Saeran...please..."

 

"Please what? You have to tell me what you want." He smirked mischievously, enjoying all of the shades of pink and red she had been turning tonight. 

"Please....f- fuck me." She stammered, obviously not used to the word. He grinned as he positioned himself to enter her. He could feel the heat coming off of her womanhood and it was driving him crazy. He pinched one nipple and took the other in his mouth, trying to drag this moment out. When she wrapped her legs around his waist, he couldn't take it anymore and plunged into her. She screamed in pleasure and he enjoyed hearing the hint of pain as she adjusted to his size. Her nails scraped down his back and his gritted his teeth, bolts of pain and ecstasy flowing straight to his cock. He wanted this to be slow, he wanted to play with her, tease her, torture her, but when he felt her soft, warm heat, he couldn't stop himself from pounding into her. His rate increased and he grabbed her hips, using them to force himself as deep inside of her as he could go.

 

He loved the feeling of her clenching around him as she came undone. Her body was covered with a thin sheen of sweat and Saeran licked some of it before returned to her mouth. She groaned as her juices spilled around him and that was all he could take. He came hard and screamed into her shoulder as he filled her with his essence. He fell onto her and rested his head next to hers as he drifted off.

 

Saeran's eyes shot open and he glanced around frantically. It was 8 a.m. He moved to get up, trying to shake the way too vivid dream out of his head. He looked down as he felt an unfamiliar stickiness in his sheets. He turned red, stripping them off of his bed. Well, shit. This was going to make things a little awkward.


	5. What are Friends for?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saeran is really having trouble forgetting some things. This chapter has a bit more about Saeran's mental state.

_It's because she's the only girl I've spent an extended amount of time with,_ Saeran rationalized as he slowly nibbled on breakfast. Emma always made great food, but today everything tasted...off. He had managed to shove his sheets and sleep pants in the washer before his brother or his wife woke up, but his weirdness was still pretty apparent to them. He knew this, because they both currently stared at him expectantly.

"I really hate being stared at." He said pointedly, refusing to meet either of their gazes.

"Did something happen in therapy?" Emma asked, her voice obvious with concern. Saeran looked up at her suddenly, feeling a little guilty. She was always really sweet to him, and now he was making her worry over something silly. He gave her a half-smirk. 

 

"No. No, it's going fine. I just might've...made..a friend. That's a girl...." He mumbled the last bit into his eggs, unhappy that he had to admit it in front of Saeyoung. He actually didn't mind opening up to Emma, but his brother was just so...

"OH MY SWEET GOD YOU HAVE ANSWERED MY PRAYERS AND DELIVERED A PURE MAIDEN TO MY WONDERFUL BROTHER~~!"

Loud. And over-dramatic. A lot of the animosity had ebbed, compared to what it was, but Saeyoung was opposite to him in every single way aside from looks. 

"Sweetheart, I want ice cream." Emma voice broke through the raucous celebration of her husband. He stopped suddenly and stared. She patted her belly and smiled back at him.

"Right. Ice cream. Don't we have some?" He scratched his head. 

"That's cookie dough. I want butter pecan."

"Okay! I'm going to take one of my babies to get ice cream for my baby who's gonna have my baby!" He exclaimed, grabbing one of his many sets of keys and rushing out the door. 

"He didn't even finish his breakfast..." Saeran remarked. Emma's smile was still on her face as she turned to him. 

"Tell me about her." She said, simply. Saeran immediately felt his cheeks flush at her intense stare. 

"You didn't want ice cream, did you?" He asked, amused at the manipulative nature of it. 

"Not really, but cravings are funny like that- they come and go. More importantly, what's going on? I wouldn't pry into your private life, but you've been really...off...this morning."

"Alright...but anything I tell you- you can't tell Saeyoung."

"Deal." She said, offering her hand. Saeran shook it and commenced into a watered-down relay of events from the last few weeks. He didn't tell Emma WHO it was, and he certainly didn't tell her about the specifics of his dream (they were suddenly a couple and doing things that couples do...technically not a lie). He was able, however, to relay his fears about what this could mean. He desperately hoped that she would agree with his rationalization of it all. 

"So, the dream means nothing and I just need to spend more time with her and I won't have those thoughts anymore, right?" He said, hopefully.

"Well...that could be true...but...there's a problem." She replied. Saeran just stared impatiently as he felt his bubble burst. "The way you look when you talk about her. Your face lights up- your eyes get bigger, your cheeks get a little rosy, you smile a little. I think you really like her."

The sound of loud rock music and a car door slamming shut reached their ears and Emma stood up to clear the table. Saeran stood up to confine himself to his room as he usually did, now feeling more conflicted than ever, but grateful for the advice nonetheless. 

 

"Thanks, Emma." He said quietly as he stalked to his room. She whistled in response.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saeran: What are you doing?

Aejun: Playing LoLoL with Yoosung (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

Saeran: What is that face supposed to mean?

Aejun: It means that HE'S MAKING IT DIFFICULT. He after this armor and he's dragging me along but I'm a way lower level and I keep getting killed along the way and now he's staring at me because I'm texting but I DON'T CARE BECAUSE HE'S A STUPID JERK FOR MAKING ME COME WITH HIM. Sorry, I gtg ttyl  ٩(๑> ₃ <)۶♥

 

Saeran felt himself feeling a little disappointed with the exchange. He didn't know what he was hoping for, but he always felt...lighter when he talked to her. He wished he could see her more than once a week. Wait- he wasn't actually considering a date, was he? He thought he would feel better after talking to Emma, but he couldn't help thinking that he was wrong for Aejun. Saeran was like a faucet, and once a negative thought entered his head, the tap was turned on to full blast and he couldn't stop the flood that came next.

_I'm unlovable, mom said so. Aren't mothers the women that teach you how to be loved? She couldn't do that, because she knew. She knew I'm nothing. I'll drag Aejun down like I dragged down Savior, like I dragged Saeyoung down. That's why he had to run away from me, he had to escape. I'm like a black hole, I just fucking devour any bit of light in my vicinity and crush it. Wait...did I call Rika 'Savior' again? shithsitshitshitshit this is bad, I need to calm down calmdowncalmdowncalmdown. You fucked up piece of garbage fuck you for not being good enough. You'll never be good enough, even I can't stand you and I AM YOU. fuck fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck._

Saeran realized that he had been rocking on his feet and pulling at his hair when hands a lot like his own were placed over his and he stilled. This was also when he realized he had been screaming nonsensically. He stared into his brother's golden eyes and vaguely noticed Emma in his doorway. Saeyoung carefully brought Saeran's hands down to his sides and he watched the wisps of hair tumble out of his now unclenched fingers.

Saeran slept for a long time. He had emergency medicine for times like that which he absolutely hated. It made him sleep, which he was grateful for, but it also made everything dull. Even his dreams, which always felt like an escape in the times that he COULD sleep, were cast in mostly grey and occasional muted shades of color. When he finally woke up, he looked at his phone and realized he had some missed calls and text messages.

Aejun: Where are you? There's a meeting with the RFA members- are you three coming?

Aejun: Saeyoung and Emma just got here, Saeran, what happened?

Aejun: Are you okay? Please tell me what happened, they won't say anything.

Aejun: I'm calling you. I hope it's really annoying.

Aejun: Please let me know you're okay. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have brushed you off earlier.

 

All of the messages were about 30 minutes apart. Saeran felt oddly touched that she had apparently been thinking about him throughout the entire meeting with the other members. She was all of the missed calls as well. He realized that the heaviness he normally felt after taking that medication, while still there, felt more manageable than it did before. He clicked back into his messages and replied, noticing that it was 3 a.m. Well, at least she would see that he had responded when she woke up.

Saeran: Hey. Sorry. Can we talk about it next time we meet?

Aejun: Oh thank god! I thought you were in the hospital or something! Your brother and his wife looked so goddamn morose the whole meeting! 

Saeran: Yeah they worry sometimes.

Aejun: Well, I can go to bed now so thank you for texting me back! And actually, Yoosung will be going to visit my parents next session. So after therapy, you should come up and we can talk :)

Saeran: ok sounds good.

 

He typed 'sounds good', but his mind was in a flurry. Alone with her. He felt a good sense of anxiousness creep up his spine. He was sure that when the drugs wore off completely, he would feel different, but right now he just felt excited at the prospect of talking privately, face to face with her. He drifted off again and the colors in his dreams seemed a little more vivid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Saeran's breakdown seems weird I think? A lot of it was actually based off of my own thought process when I start to have a panic attack. A lot of looping thoughts, insults, worries that I seem to be stuck in when that happens.


	6. Weight Lifted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aejun opens up to Saeran about her past.

Aejun left her therapy session feeling a mixture of contentment and dread. She didn't realize at the time how nervous it would make her to be completely alone with Saeran while Yoosung was away. She sat down on a bench outside of the treatment center and gnawed her bottom lip nervously while she waited for Saeran's session to end. She had decided to tell him everything.

_I'm just going to tell him why I'm here. There's nothing sexy about that. He'll probably run away and think I'm some crazy person who stabs all of her problems away...a lot._

Even as she thought this, however, she couldn't deny that she had fantasized a time or two...or three...about being alone with him. But her tangerine scented daydreams always had a distinct disconnect from the reality of their friendship. Still, as she waited, she allowed herself to dream just a little more. She imagined that he might be inexperienced, and slow to start. She was a few years older than him, so it was her natural assumption for anyone in the same age bracket as her little brother. He had long fingers, and she liked to imagine how they would feel caressing her skin. 

A familiar feeling started to well up in her stomach, and she had to squash it immediately as she saw the now familiar sight of the red hair turned the corner and coming towards her. She tried to rub the pink out of her cheeks as she stood to greet him. 

"Ready?" She asked, certain that her voice was an entire octave higher than it normally was.

"Yeah...you alright?" He quirked an eyebrow.

"Yup!" She gave a suspiciously big smile and started the usual trek to the apartment. 

The ice cream shop on the way missed it's usual customers, as both Saeran and Aejun were too nervous to eat anything. The silence grew and stretched out until they arrived at the gate of the complex. A few comments were peppered throughout the walk about an odd passerby here or there, but it was overall an extremely awkward time for both of them. 

When they stepped into the apartment, Saeran realized that he had never imagined what the apartment of that kid would look like, but he certainly didn't think it would be as clean as it was. He then glanced at Aejun, still with her cheeks a faint shade of red, and realized that she probably cleaned for him. Her embarrassment also reminded him of his dream, so he immediately distracted himself by finding the nearest soft thing to sit on. He settled jauntily on a futon that looked like it had survived World War II, and watched as Aejun started preparing some tea, talking to him about manners and apologizing for her rudeness.

When the tea was made and Aejun couldn't stall for anymore time, she set the two cups and saucers with spearmint green tea on the small coffee table in front of them. She sipped calmly (or, as calmy as she could feign) as Saeran explained his absence the other night. 

"I have some um- issues- with anxiety and I can't really remember what happened..." he lied, "but something triggered an attack so I just kind of slept. Sorry if I worried anyone."

"It's okay." Aejun replied, setting her now empty teacup down. "Actually, Saeran, I really wanted to tell you about something..." She stared into his eyes, desperately trying to find the strength to tell him something that might scare him off for good. He patiently stared back, unsure as to what he should do or say at this point. He almost fell out of his seat when Aejun slowly started unbuttoning her pale blue over shirt. 

"Aejun, what're you-" he was cut off when he saw them. Tiny circular scars that he was all too familiar with himself. A couple of harsh, jagged scars decorated her collarbone. As Aejun stripped off the shirt, he saw why she wore long sleeves. Bumpy, slightly discolored flesh ran from her shoulder down to her elbow- a burn scar. And then she started talking, and she told him everything. Like a road map of a dysfunctional marriage, she told him where every scar came from. The cigarette burns were just normal- if she burned dinner or it wasn't ready on time. The jagged scars were from her last scuffle with him, when he desperately tried to take her down with him. The burn was...

"He was drunk, and tried to light me on fire. He said he was tired of me, of everything. Obviously, he didn't really do a good job, so I guess I should just be happy he was so drunk. He passed out shortly after that." Saeran could feel his face getting hot. He cautiously traced a finger along the burn, eliciting a shiver from it's owner. 

"Where is he now?" He asked, a quiet deadliness to his tone. She looked down at her lap.

"He's dead. I killed him." 

"Good." And that was that. Aejun felt a huge weight lifted off of her shoulders. She enjoyed having someone that wasn't paid to listen hear her story, all of it. She enjoyed the tentative, gentle feel of his fingers going to each sensitive scar. She enjoyed it when he stopped, and told her everything about his mother and brother. She enjoyed less to learn that his long sleeve shirts covered up scars from suicide attempts. When he rolled up his sleeves and showed her, she stared. There were a few old cigarette burns seared on his skin, but the scars on his wrists made her want to cry.

Without thinking, or understanding why, she grasped one arm and pulled it up to her lips. She placed a soft, fluttering kiss on his wrist and looked into his eyes. She was taken by surprise when the other hand came up and pulled her head towards his. His mouth came crashing down on hers and she couldn't stop the surprised squeak she let out. When he took her surprised and open mouth as an opportunity to push his tongue in, she didn't object. They both reveled in the feeling of their tongues swirling together, and pulled apart suddenly, panting.

"Ah..sorry...that probably wasn't...appropriate." Saeran stammered. Aejun shook her head vehemently. 

"No! No, it's okay, really.." She responded, realizing that her hand was on his thigh and his was tangled in her hair. Red- faced, she pulled away and reached for her shirt. 

"I should get going." Saeran said, standing to leave. He stopped when he saw the bulge that had started to grow in his pants. He blushed, and desperately tried to think of Saeyoung to make it go back down. He brushed past Aejun as she finished buttoning up her shirt and was stopped by a hand grabbing his wrist. Her clear blue eyes gazed up at him with emotions swirling in them like currents in the ocean as she uttered a single word: "Stay."

And he did.


	7. Stay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He made his choice and she made hers. What happens now?

"Stay." 

Just one word and that was all it took. Saeran was analyzing his decision again and again. He carried his daily medication with him, but what if something happened, what if he panicked and couldn't couldn't control himself? he had destroyed things before in one of those instances, so what if he hurt Aejun? He could feel the worry start to swell inside his brain, drowning it in foul, opaque water.

"Here. It's not much, but I had some kimchi and rice leftover." A bowl clattered on the coffee table in front of him. He blinked, staring at the face of the woman he had come to cherish. The worry evaporated almost instantly as he studied her face- the eyes like clear sapphire lagoons, the curved cupid's bow lips, the wavy chestnut hair that tumbled into her face. He didn't know when, but he had truly come to love this woman. When her brows furrowed in concern at his silence, he collected himself and grabbed the bowl and fork with it.

"Thank you. It looks really good." He started eating as she sat down next to him with her own bowl. The sounds of chewing and clanking  filled the tiny apartment. Saeran took the quiet as a chance to further analyze this new feeling. He didn't care much about being loved, but he always had a protective nature for those that he loved. There was Saeyoung, BEFORE the abandonment (though typically he ended up being the one in need of protection in that case), then there was Rika, and Emma. But all of these were familial types of love. At one time, maybe he felt something bordering on romantic for Emma, but that quickly ebbed as he lived with her and his brother. She was very matronly to him, so that was the role she occupied in his mind. 

He felt a sense of calm wash over him when he thought about this. He didn't care if she felt nothing for him other than lust. He wouldn't hurt her- he couldn't. He felt like he could spend his entire life just making sure she was okay. He wanted to see her smile continue to fill the world with its effervescent brightness. He had a slight smirk as he finished his meal and placed his bowl back on the table. Aejun grabbed it and brought both bowls to the sink, quickly rinsing them out and setting them on a mat to dry. 

"Would you like to take a shower first?" She asked, and Saeran could see her ears turn a shade of bright red. 

"Uh- sure." He answered. She nodded and motioned him towards the bathroom. She pointed out where the towels were and made a hasty exit. When Saeran closed the door and entered the steaming hot stream of water, he was hit by the smell surrounding him. He wondered if any of it actually belonged to Yoosung because the entire shower was filled with a distinctly feminine aroma. He was absorbed into it completely, and tried hard to focus on washing himself. His cock wasn't exactly listening to him, though, and it continued it's steady rise. By the time he grabbed the body wash and lathered it on his body, he was painfully at full mast. He bit his lip, and couldn't think of anything other than the taste of her tongue earlier, and the shy, mewling sounds she made as they kissed. He sighed in resignation.

He tentatively stroked it, using the body wash as lubrication. He thought back to his dream, replaying her coquettish sexiness in it. And then there was the kiss, the hand on his thigh. He imagined her small, delicate fingers and how nimble they would be stroking him. He imagined this sugary sweet smell that was engulfing him, and how it would mingle with her natural feminine scent. Christ, he was hard. He pumped up and down furiously, never remembering a time when he had been this hard. Images of her head bobbing up and down while she sucked him off, of her back arching in delicious ecstasy, and finally, the thought that sent him over the edge- her soft voice moaning his name. He grunted as his seed shot onto the shower floor, being washed away by the water almost immediately. He rinsed the bit that had gotten onto his hand off and shut off the shower.

To his dismay, he was still ready to go. He felt like a teenager going through puberty again, and willed it to go down as he grabbed some mouthwash and gargled. He was NOT prepared for the scene he was greeted with when he exited the bathroom, towel wrapped loosely around his waist. Almost as soon as he had convinced his erection to ebb, it was back up in full force. Aejun was now scrambling to cover herself, but he knew what he saw. Her hand down the front of her panties, her head tilted back, her lips parted and her legs spread- she was touching herself. Her face blazed crimson as she scrambled to the bathroom. She didn't say anything to him as she brushed past him.

He tried not to think about it as he eyed the sleeping clothes she had put out for him. He reached slowly to pick up the shirt. He wanted to convince himself that it was normal, everyone did it, hell, HE just did it. There was nothing deep behind it. She was worked up from earlier and was probably imagining doing that with someone like Zen. None of these excuses worked, and he cursed under his breath as he dropped the shirt, and his towel to the floor. He stalked to the bathroom door, really debating whether or not this was the right choice. He was mostly thinking with a different head, though, so he brazenly opened the door and stepped into the billowing steam. 

The shower curtain was a boring, see-thru one, and Aejun knew he was in there. She didn't say a word when he grasped the edge and stepped inside. Both occupants took a moment to savor the moment. The rivulets of water emphasizing every inch of skin that seemed so out of reach and forbidden at one time. Aejun noticed his tattoo on his left arm for the first time, and reached out to trace it with her fingers. His own fingers explored the places on her that he had only dreamed about. Her nipples were hard, and he couldn't resist taking one between his fingers and giving it a light pinch. Her fingers stopped then, and were replaced by her mouth, licking and savoring the taste of his skin. She travelling to his neck and nibbled a bit, feeling him tense up and shiver. He grasped her shoulders and pushed her back suddenly, his eyes focusing on hers. 

"Tell me want this. I want to hear it."

"I want you, Saeran." She replied, breathlessly. That was all it took and she was against the shower wall, his lips smothering her mouth. Their tongues were entangled within each other and she could feel his manhood against her upper thigh. She reached down and stroked it timidly, eliciting an insanely sensuous purr from him. She switched between fondling his dick and his balls, granting her reactions that continued to make her moist. When his mouth left hers and traveled South, she held her breath, knowing what was coming next.

That same delicious mouth licked at her sex gently, and then pulled back just as softly. His ministrations were calculated, controlled, and driving her fucking insane. She bucked her hips when he engulfed her fully with his mouth and sucked greedily. It had been so long since she had been with anyone, even longer since she had wanted it so completely. Had she ever wanted anyone this bad before? She honestly couldn't remember. Then again, she was lucky she could remember her name as she felt herself climbing steadily to a climax. He desperately tried to clutch something, anything, to keep her balance as her legs started to turn to rubber. She settled on burying her fingers in his hair, and he held her up with two fingers that he inserted as her walls started contracting. 

"Shit, shit, shit, Saeran, holy shit.." was all she could gasp as she came. It was like a starving man having his first meal in weeks- if that meal were filet minon and served in the finest restaurant in Paris. The butterflies in her belly were in a flurry when he took his head away and she saw her juices glistening around his mouth. They both realized suddenly that the water had gone cold. He lifted her up easily and stepped out of the shower. She could still see his erection throbbing and she knew they were far from done.

He tossed her playfully on the bed, and she couldn't have cared less at how wet the blankets and sheets now were. He leaned over her and she was stunned by how godlike he appeared to be. His eyes were half-lidded with desire and his perfect pink lips her parted and huffing. He licked them, and she turned pink, knowing that her taste was still on them. Soon, though, her taste was in her own mouth as he kissed her hungrily. His hands roamed down her body and alternated between gentle strokes and playful pinches. The mix of hard and soft suited him very well, she thought dazedly. When he positioned himself at her entrance, she felt like she couldn't wait another second. 

Neither could he. He slammed into her, harder than he had intended and she cried out. He stopped, worried it WAS too hard for her, and he realized it was a cry of ecstasy. So she COULD handle it a little rough...he would catalog that thought for later. Right now he wanted this moment saccharine sweet, languid, and loving. He slowly pulled out and entered again with the carefulness of a watchmaker placing a gear. He watched her face fill with emotion as her cheeks and chest flushed red. Those perfect, tiny nipples were still hard as a rock, and he took one into his mouth, nibbling softly. Her moans were driving him crazy. But what really got him was when she traced her nails down his back and grabbed his ass. She dug her nails into it, and he loved the dual sensation of pleasure and pain.

He started driving into her mindlessly, reaching desperately for the finish line. She was close as well, and he could feel the subtle ways her body massaged his cock as she came close. He wanted to slow down and take his time, but dammit, she looked straight into his eyes and said she was coming and he couldn't hold back anymore. He spilled into her, crying out louder than he had ever heard himself. He was breathing heavily and looked down at her, her face awash in contentment and pleasure. He stroked her cheek with his hand and brought her lips to his for what felt like the 100th kiss that night. But this was the best one, he felt her smile on his lips and heard her sigh happily. 

They lay in bed, naked and satisfied after changing the sheets. Her head rested on his chest and she traced lazy circles around his nipples. 

"You're a good lover, I'm jealous of all the girls who got to try you first." She giggled. He looked away.

"No need to be..." He said simply, coughing. When she only gave him a quizzical look, he blushed deeper. "Ah- what I mean is, I never really...you know..." Realization dawned on her face with the subtlety of a plane crash.

"YOU MEAN YOU'RE- a virgin?" She whispered the last part like it was something dirty. He forgot his embarrassment a little bit and laughed at her reaction. Damn, she was cute. He wanted to ask her about what this meant for them- if anything- but thought the better of it when he saw her head start to nod off. She closed her eyes and slept peacefully on his chest, her breath steadily flowing over his tiny cigarette burn scars. He kissed her lightly on the top of her head and turned out the side lamp. As he drifted off, he could swear he heard music, and he felt a weightlessness in his chest that he had honestly never felt before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had fun writing this chapter! So smutty ^___^ I hope everyone has enjoyed so far! I am going to a conference on the 11th, so I am going to try hard to finish this story before that happens!


	8. New Horizons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sex complicates things. So do concerned little brothers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! This took so long to get out! Sorry!! Shout out to Twinklette for leaving a sweet comment and giving me the enthusiasm to continue this! This story definitely isn't over yet~ I have so many ideas and if Cheritz isn't going to give Saeran love then I will ^0^

Aejun sat across from Yoosung as he nibbled on a bagel, studying for an upcoming internal med test that day. It had been a couple weeks since her and Saeran had..fully enjoyed eachother's amenities, and neither had mentioned it since. Saeran had woken up earlier than her the next day, cleaned up the mess they had made and made a silent retreat. She figured that was the end of their tryst, but she was going to talk to him about it this evening. Before doing that, though, she wanted get some advice.

"Yoosung...do you think it's too early for me to date again?" She asked suddenly, feeling a bit guilty when he choked on his food.

"Excuse me?!" He wheezed out. She just stared back, trying to communicate her seriousness to him through her eyes. "I mean, of course I think it's fine...this is just sudden. Do you have someone in mind?"

"Maybe..." she admitted. She could see the gears turning in Yoosung's head. 

"You haven't been out much, so that would leave someone in the RFA or someone from therapy..."

"It's not a big deal, you don't have to analyse it so much." Aejun sated hastily. 

"I hope it's someone in the RFA, though. They're all really good guys! Except for Sev- Saeyoung or Saeran..." Yoosung smiled, finishing off his breakfast and wiping his mouth. Aejun frowned.

"I know you said Saeyoung because he's married, but what's wrong with Saeran?" She couldn't stop herself from asking. 

"Well, I mean..he just...has issues, you know? And he used to be pretty violent so I wouldn't want you to make the same mistake again..." He started grabbing his things for school. 

"I never knew you to be so judgmental." Aejun's retort stung, and she could see it in Yoosung's face. 

"I'm not trying to be, I just care about you. Why do you care so much, anyway? It's not like you're seriously interested in him, right?" He peered at her as his hand rested on the doorknob. Aejun looked down, her face as red as a cherry. His mouth thinned into a line, but he didn't say anything else. He stepped outside and closed the door roughly behind him. Aejun jumped at the loud noise it made when it slammed shut.

_Shit...what did I just do?_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Saeran had a familiar uneasiness settling in his stomach as he got dressed for therapy. It was late, but Saeran didn't enjoy being around people much, so he usually ended up staying in lounge wear most of the day. He studied the menagerie of colorful shirts that screamed 'Saeyoung' all over. He opted for a more subdued green button- up. He was pretty sure he had seen his brother take a picture in this shirt, but if he didn't see anyone from the RFA, he wouldn't have to worry about it. As soon as he stepped out of his room, that hope was crushed. Emma waddled up to him nervously, her hand resting resting on her stomach. 

"Heyyy Saeran..." She said slowly. He quirked an eyebrow.

"Are you okay? Where's Saeyoung?" He glanced around, almost expecting his brother to jump out of the shadows as if he were summoned.

"About that- Jumin had a security breach at the company and he's over there working on that. More importantly, can you drive?"

"Yeah...why?"

"Because I'm pretty sure I'm going into labor." She said this so simply that Saeran didn't register exactly what she was communicating with him. When he did, the realization hit like a ton of bricks.

"Shit." He mumbled, as he scrambled to the key hook and picked the keys for one of his brother's various 'babies'. He started to sweat as he went through all the reasons why he was the absolute worst person for this situation and all the things that could go wrong. Emma already had her overnight bag in her hand and Saeran scooped her up to carry her to the car. Emma turned beet red as he fumbled for the garage door and stumbled through. 

"Saeran, you really don't have to carry me, I'll be fine." He set her down next to a bright yellow monstrosity that looked like it would at least go fast. 

"I don't...want it to fall out." He said, realizing how stupid it sounded as soon as it left his mouth. Emma just laughed as he opened the passenger door for her and she settled inside. 

"Well thank you." She responded.

If there was a world record for speeding, Saeran probably beat it. He furiously dialed and redialed his brother's number en route, but cursed everytime he got that idiot's voicemail. He angrily shoved his phone in his pocket when they arrived, leaving the car running as he ran inside to get some help. When all was said and done and Emma was safely in a room, Saeran felt like he could breathe. He looked at the clock to realize that therapy had already started. He was disappointed he couldn't see Aejun tonight- he was really hoping to talk to her and at least see her face. His regrets were interrupted by Saeyoung barreling through the door. 

"SAERAN!! Where is she?!" He ran up to him, clasping his shoulders roughly. Saeran forgot how deceptively strong he was.

"You're hurting me. And shes through those doors. Tell the nurse her name and they'll let you through." He said coolly, pretending that he hadn't been just as freaked out only moments before. Saeyoung let go, mumbled an apology and proceeded in the referenced direction. Saeran smiled slightly, always enjoying the sight of the usually insane but collected 707 losing composure and focus. He supposed he should leave now and go to therapy, but he felt rooted to the spot. He pulled out his phone to send a quick message to everyone in RFA to let them know the situation. He figured Aejun would see it as well. He was wrong.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aejun stood outside the therapy building for about an hour before she gave up. She felt a chill in the air as she pulled out her phone. She messaged Saeran for what she felt like might be the last time. 

 

Aejun: Hey, Saeran. Are you coming?

Saeran: No. Hospital.

 

_Hospital?_   The thought barely finished forming in her head before a taxi drove up in front of her, breaks screeching. She looked up to see the visage of her younger brother stepping out and hurrying her inside the vehicle. 

"Yoosung! What's going on?! Where are we going?"

"Hospital."

There was that word again. She felt panic rising in her throat. Saeran was in the hospital. Did he try to hurt himself? She couldn't ask Yoosung- he looked worried enough. Was it even Saeran that sent that text? What if he was in critical condition? By the time the taxi arrived to the hospital, Aejun was a mess. Tears were threatening to spill at any second and she didn't really register most of what was going on as she followed Yoosung's back. They stepped into a blindingly white room that was all too familiar to Aejun and she looked up to see all of the RFA members sitting in musky chairs. And then there was...

"Saeran!" She yelled, startling everyone in the room. Jaehee almost leapt out of her chair and dropped her coffee. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she ran and threw her arms around him, "I'm so glad you're okay!". 

Saeran was red for a couple of reasons. The first was that he couldn't help but remember their Sextravaganza as soon as the smell of her shampoo assaulted his senses. The second was that everyone was now staring quizzically at the exchange. He awkwardly patted her back and explained things to her as she let go and looked up at him. She wiped her eyes and smiled brightly. 

"Oh! Sorry, I'm not on the app much at all." Saeran smiled at her, happy and flattered that she was so worried about him. He looked up to see a very unhappy Yoosung glaring from the other side of the room. He was about to go and talk to him when a nurse entered the room. 

"Hello everyone. There's been a little surprise, so this may take longer than expected, but everything is going well so far." She stood in the opening doorway and smiled nervously. Just as Saeran was going to ask what she meant, a scream erupted from one of the rooms behind her. 

"SAEYOUNG I WILL MURDER YOU IF YOU EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN! WHY ARE THERE TWO?!?!" The nurse cleared her throat and quickly hurried back to the room. 

"Aw, cute, twins." Aejun said.

"Aw, shit, twins." Everyone else thought.

 

 

A couple hours had passed and finally the nurse came back in, looking haggard and sweaty. Everyone stared at her expectantly. 

 

"The mother can now take guests, but only two at a time, please." Immediately Saeran stood up. Jumin and Zen also stood up. After bickering at eachother who should go in first, Zen conceded and Jumin followed the red headed boy into the room. The scene they entered looked like World War 3 had hit. Emma sat grumpily holding one baby burrito and Saeyoung- glasses broken and arms covered in scratches- sat holding the other. Each baby was wrapped in a pink blanket and had a tiny tuft of red hair and big yellow eyes. 

"Aren't they adorable??" Saeyoung said proudly, lifted his baby burrito into the air like Simba from The Lion King. Emma glared, and he quickly stopped his charade. Both visitors smiled. 

"What are their names?" Jumin asked, as Saeyoung handed one baby to him to hold. Saeran took the other gingerly, amazed at how tiny she was. 

 

"The one Saeran is holding is Lucy, " Emma yawned, "and the one you're holding is Elly." She finished. Jumin stopped staring down at the baby's minuscule features and looked at Saeyoung. 

"Did you name her, Saeyoung?" The ginger nodded vigorously.

"I named her after my first love~"

"You named your child after my cat." Jumin said plainly. The room grew oddly quiet as the information sunk in. "Well, " Jumin continued, "I suppose it's a perfect name if you want her to grow up successful, beautiful and the absolute embodiment of perfection." 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

When everyone had a chance to visit and marvel at the little humans and congratulate the parents, they gathered outside the hospital to say goodbye to eachother. There was a mostly airy and light feeling in the atmosphere until Yoosung approached Saeran. 

"Share a cab with me. I want to talk to you." Saeran glanced around for Aejun's familiar and comforting blue eyes, but couldn't find her anywhere. "Aejun is being taken home by Zen." He said. Saeran didn't feel like he had much of a choice, so he agreed. This was going to be fun.

They sat in the shared cab for a good 10 minutes before Yoosung spoke up.

"So, my sister likes you." He said, noticing that Saeran didn't look very surprised. "Do you like her? Are you using her for something? What's going on?" His voice sounded almost frantic. 

"I'm not using her." Saeran responded. 

"But do you like her?" Inquired Yoosung. Saeran didn't want to talk about his personal feelings to this kid. He was annoyed that he had to be put in a situation like this. Sure, he liked Aejun, hell, he was sure that he loved her. But he wasn't going to talk about his inner feelings with Yoosung before he had a chance to talk to Aejun about them. So, he stayed silent, and stared down the slightly younger boy as he saw the rage bubbling to the surface. 

"Just stay away from her- please. She's had enough. I don't want to see her hurt again. Even if you do like her...can you honestly say that you're ready for a relationship?" Saeran pursed his lips. 

"It's none of your fucking business." He said coldly as the taxi pulled up to the bunker. Yoosung opened his mouth to say more, but Saeran had already slammed the door and continued up to the house. He heard the cab speed away as he inserted his key into the lock, surprised to find it already unlocked. He stepped in cautiously, wondering if it had been a mistake to have Saeyoung turn off the extra security. The room was pitch black, save for a light in the kitchen emanating from the fridge. He creeped up slowly and was shocked to find Aejun looking sheepish. 

"I asked Emma for the key." She said, answering his unasked question. 

"Why?" Saeran asked, going up to her and placing his hand on her head. He couldn't help himself, he just wanted to touch everytime he saw her. 

"I wanted to talk to you- about us." She said nervously. 

"Alright." And they proceeded to the couch. Saeran flicked on a floor lamp and settled in beside her. 

"Saeran, I like you. A lot. And I really. I mean, I can't promise anything, but I really want to start...something. And I hope that you feel the same way. Even though the sex was really good. I mean, like really really really good, I want it to be more than that. But I'll take the sex if that's all you want it to be but I want more if you aren't opposed to it and-" She was cut off when Saeran placed his lips over hers, effectively silencing her with a heated kiss. When they broke apart, she could see his flushed cheeks and serious mint eyes boring into her. 

"I want that too, I think. And I can't promise anything, either. But I will try my best to make you happy and not fuck you up." 

"We're both kind of fucked up, right? That's why...I'll carry your burdens if you'll carry mine." She nuzzled into his neck, and he could feel her smile. He beamed.

Before they knew it, they had fallen sleep in eachother's arms on the couch. There was a blinding light from the sun and Saeran squinted his eyes. He looked down to see Aejun still happily entangled in him. Saeran felt like the sun was the brightest it had ever been that morning when he watched as it glinted off of her sepia- toned locks. 

 

 


	9. Brotherly Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saeran indulges in a fantasy he has had for awhile and Yoosung confronts Seven.
> 
> Warning: very light BDSM in this chapter. With consent. I thought about whether or not it's actually considered that because it's so tame. Basically being tied up and teased. But I wanted to cover all my bases o_o;

Saeran stroked Aejun's hair gently as he struggled to wake up. He was accustomed to sleeping until the crack of noon, so to wake up any time before then was a new experience. He was happy he did, though. He had...devious plans that absolutely had to be carried out before Emma was released from the hospital. He knew that Luciel wouldn't leave her side until that time came as well. He started to stroke her more slowly, trying to be as sensual as he could with one arm trapped underneath his partner. He smiled as she made a small sound and opened her eyes. There are a few moments in everyone's life that they remember with frightening clarity. Most of Saeran's were, unfortunately, bad moments. But he would always remember how absolutely beautiful Aejun looked as she peered up at him that morning- tousled chestnut hair, pink cheeks and those deep blue pools that he could happily drown in. 

He leaned down after he had gotten his fill of her visage and placed what was a chaste kiss to begin with, that quickly deepened into something more. Saeran smirked as Aejun's hands started to travel down from their previous position on his chest. She unbuttoned the green shirt he was still wearing and traced her nails around his nipples. They hardened almost immediately. Saeran shrugged the shirt off as he finally broke their kiss and stood up. 

"What's wrong?" Aejun asked.

"Nothing. There's something I've always wanted to do." His smirk came back and Aejun could swear it looked positively evil. Not that there was anything wrong with that- she thought it looked damn sexy on him. She nodded and he grabbed her hand, running to the back of the house. The entered a large room with a king sized bed and a ridiculously large computer setup in the corner. She realized that this computer was exactly where she was being brought to. Saeran hoisted her up, knocking over an empty PhD Pepper can in the process. 

"Saeran- ahhh- your computer..." She mewled. She was finding it hard to concentrate on speech when he dipped his hand into her underwear and started stroking gently, the pad of his finger working in circles and making her brain do the same. He took his mouth from her neck briefly to answer.

"Not mine. It's Saeyoung's." Aejun felt like she should object, but it there was no way she was going to tell Saeran to stop as he started to remove her top. His mouth attacked her breasts as soon as they were free, and his hand still worked furiously under her panties. She could feel his erection pressing against her leg, and she got even wetter at the thought that she could have that effect on him. She felt herself climbing up towards an orgasm, and as much as it pained her, she stopped his ministrations by grabbing his hand. He looked at her questioningly, but she didn't say anything as she pushed him gently into the computer chair behind him. 

He grinned devilishly, he liked it when the normally shy and reserved woman got aggressive. She smiled as she straddled him, grabbing his face and tilting it up towards her. She hungrily attacked his mouth, her tongue invading every inch of it. She bit his lip a bit rougher than she intended when she pulled back. She apologized when she saw a small droplet of blood on his lip. 

"That's unfortunate." His tongue snaked out to retrieve it, "I should punish you." He looked at her flushed cheeks and burn scars before adding, "Is it alright with you?" He trailed kisses along her collarbone and kissed every scar he saw, wanting to memorize every inch of her with his mouth. 

"It's okay." Aejun managed to say. The words came out like a drawn out moan, and Saeran was on the edge of losing it. 

"I'll be gentle, but the punishment is that you can't cum until I say you can." He informed her before standing up, holding her up as her legs wrapped around him. He walked to the bed and tossed her on it, delighting in the way she looked with her hair spilled around her face and her chest flushed. He licked his lips and took one more look at her before he went digging in his brother's dresser drawers. He came across some ties  that he was certain he had never seen the other twin wear and decided these would work fine. They were expensive and silky, and Saeran was happy that they wouldn't hurt her wrists. He tied her wrists to the ends of the bed post and trailed lazy kisses down to her pants. He pulled her pants and panties off and left her naked while he retrieved a couple of things. 

The first was a feather he had plucked out of an unused cat toy. He didn't question why his brother had cat toys when he didn't have a cat, but he assumed it had something to do with catnapping the trust fund kid's cat. He also grabbed a piece of ice and popped it in his mouth. She squirmed immediately as he reentered the room, still eager for contact. He crawled between her legs and started lapping at her juices, letting the ice cube slide along her slit before sucking it back in again. She gasped at the hot- cold- hot pattern of his mouth and the ice, arching her back as waves of pleasure jolted all of her nerves. When the ice had fully melted, Searan could tell she was on the precipice. He used the feather and gently slid it along her neck, around her nipples and down her stomach. He enjoyed watching her belly twitch at the somewhat ticklish sensation near her sensitive hip bones. He trailed it lower and watched tears come to her eyes as she tried so hard not to cum.

She turned beet red at the realization that a damn feather was driving her crazy, and she couldn't handle it anymore.

"Please, Saeran..." She whined.

"Please what?" He asked, still trailing his newfound sex toy along her swollen clit.

"Let me cum. I'll be good." She choked the last part out, gritting her teeth and trying in vain to squirm away from the sensation. He smirked, fully enjoying his little power trip. 

"Yes, you may." He said. Before the words were even out of his mouth, she screamed out and felt fireworks in every inch of her body as she came. She blushed a deep crimson as Saeran held up the now sticky feather and smiled triumphantly. He kissed her and untied her wrists. His erection was now painful as it begged to be let loose. Aejun didn't waste any time. As soon as she was loose, she coaxed him back to the computer chair. When he sat down, he realized she had brought the ties with her and proceeded to tie his hands behind the chair. She worked his pants off and he sighed with relief as his member sprang free. He loved the way her eyes lit up with lust when she saw it. She trailed her tongue gently up and down the shaft- her touch was so light, it was almost imperceptible. He jumped at the sensation when she trailed her nails down it and cupped his balls. She teased him a little more, placing light kisses, gentle nibbles and the occasional puff of air on his manhood.

When she felt that he was sufficiently hard- as if he could've gotten any harder- she stood up and angled her opening above his member. He struggled with the ties, wanting so badly to touch her, and grunted in frustration when he couldn't budge. She smiled when roughly dropped herself onto him. The sudden intense pleasure caused Saeran to scream out and buck his hips instinctively. He was embarrassed at his loss of composure, but this was quickly forgotten as Aejun started moving along his dick. Her mouth was on his ear, and the sensation of her quick breaths caused a tingling feeling to spread along his neck and spine. One hand clutched his ginger hair and the other toyed at her sex. Her breaths came faster and she sped up her hips as she rode him. The sound of her whispering his name as she reached another climax was enough to send him over the edge. An almost high- pitched moan escaped his lips before he could stop it and he spilled into her, panting while he rested his head on her shoulder.

She cradled his head in her arms, kissing his hair and burying her face in it contentedly before reaching down to untie his hands. When he was loose, they both went to the bed and lay down, staring at the ceiling.

"We should clean up." Aejun said, sparing a glance at the feather still on the bed.

"yeah..." Saeran mumbled. He felt pure evil joy at the thought of fully defiling Luciel's computer and bed. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Meanwhile, the brother in question was negotiating the age at which babies are able to eat potato chips and/ or drink soda when they happy couple was informed they had a visitor. 

"Let them in," he said, before a quick look to make sure Emma was decent, "But this conversation isn't over." He said back to the nurse. She rolled her eyes and left the room. She passed by a very distressed blonde on her way out. 

"Seven." Yoosung said when he walked in the room. The new dad raised his eyebrows and adjusted his now replaced but exactly the same Gucci glasses. 

"Yoosung." He jokingly imitated the intensity of the younger boy's voice- complete with a mock glower. Yoosung wasn't amused.

"My sister didn't come home last night." He said, almost accusingly. 

"Did Zen bring her home last night? He was really excited. You think Zenny's beast came out??" Saeyoung imitated swooning and Emma hit him on the shoulder.

"He's seriously worried, c'mon." She said. Saeyoung sighed, looking at Yoosung.

"Well, she did, though, right? Why are you asking me?"

"Because Zen said she demanded to be dropped off at your house." He retorted. Emma coughed. 

"I gave her a key." She said simply. Yoosung gawked at her.

"WHY?!" He shouted. She winced at the sudden loudness. 

"She wanted to talk to Saeran. I was happy he wouldn't be alone the entire night."

"Why would you do that? Do you realize what she's been through?! I'm not going to let that maniac screw with her!" The tone of his voice went up an octave as he felt the panic rising in his stomach. It was immediately squashed when he felt Saeyoung's hand on his shoulder. He stared into a now very serious face.

"First, don't shout. My wife just gave birth last night. Second, he's not a maniac, he's my brother. If you had taken more than half a second to actually talk to one of us, you would know that he's a lot better than he used to be. I don't really know what's going on between those two, but if he's happy, then I'm happy. If your sister is happy, you should be too." Yoosung stared back. He wasn't used to the usually carefree and goofy hacker shedding that image, so it gave him pause. He suddenly felt ashamed. 

"I just don't want to make the same mistake again. I was so caught up in my life, that I didn't realize what absolute Hell she was living in..."

"Well, when people are living in Hell, they don't talk about it. The last thing they want is for anyone else to know. So they plant flowers and put up a white picket fence and hang a sign in the front yard that says 'definitely not Hell.' Even if you did know something was up, I doubt she would've told you." Yoosung felt a weight lifted off of him. He smiled at Saeyoung. 

"Thanks." He said. He paid Lucy and Elly a visit before heading out of the hospital. He still wasn't 100% behind this whole thing, but he wanted to talk to Saeran and Aejun before he decided anything. His next stop was the bunker.


	10. My Lips Are Sealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alright- the end! I hope this doesn't seem rushed T_T I had a lot of ideas but realized at some point that I wouldn't be able to fit all of them into this, so I tried to end it gracefully. I hope everyone enjoyed!! I have a PWP fic planned with Saeran/ Jaehee next so if that's your cup of tea, then stay tuned? I want to explore how adorably awkward those two would be together >_>;

 

Aejun and Saeran happily chatted about what their new relationship would entail. They wanted it to be a mostly private matter, feeling like it would take some pressure away from feeling constantly scrutinized. They were pretty convinced that the other members knew  _something_ might be going on, but they were hoping that the impending party would distract them for awhile. Then there was Yoosung. As much as Aejun loved him, she knew he was completely wrong about Saeran. The couple came to a somewhat devious conclusion simultaneously.

"What if we just play dumb with Yoosung?" Aejun said. Saeran looked up from the bed sheets he was struggling to fit on the bed.

"Play dumb?"

"Yeah...like, wishy- washy. Maybe we are, maybe we aren't." 

"It's going to drive that kid crazy." Saeran said this while smiling, giving Aejun the impression that wasn't a bad thing to him. When the doorbell rang, they were about to be tested on this new plan.

Yoosung had somehow reached the bunker, although he was in a half dazed state most of the way there. When his older sister opened the door with Saeran closing the door to Saeyoung's room behind her, he braced himself for a fight. He was ushered inside and urged to sit on the couch next to his her, with Saeran taking up a chair across from them.

"What brings you here, dear brother?" Aejun said, almost mockingly. Yoosung felt a strange air about the room, but chose to ignore it- this was important.

"I need to know what's going on with you guys!" He said forcefully, "I know you spent the night here last night."

"Well, Yoosung, when a man and a woman like eachother-"

"I DON'T NEED TO KNOW THAT PART." He said hurriedly, the blush creeping up his neck.

"Well, nothing like what YOU'RE thinking happened. We talked, it got late, and I fell asleep," technically not a lie.

"Are you dating?" He cut right to the chase.

"I don't know." Saeran and Aejun said in creepy unison. 

A feeling of confusion overrode Yoosung's suspicion, and he found himself at a loss for words. If neither of them would admit it, and Aejun seemed perfectly happy, there wasn't really anything to fight...right?

This feeling of having nowhere to go and no one to fight would stay with Yoosung for months after the awkward encounter. The two lovers were steadfast in their plan, right up until the RFA party.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aejun didn't think she had ever been to an extravagant party like the one the RFA had planned. She had enjoyed the extra time she got to spend with Saeran setting everything up, and now that the party was a little over an hour away, the only thing left was to get dressed. Aejun looked doubtfully at the long and silky aqua blue dress Jumin had picked out for her. She trailed her fingers down the fabric, admiring the water-like qualities and gentle sheen to it. She sighed and grabbed it off the hanger, retreating to the bathroom to get changed. When she stared at her reflection, she felt so out of place. All she could see were the scars trailing down her bare arms. She had spent so long covering them up that having them exposed like this felt almost as scandalous as going to the party naked. She did her makeup and hair slowly and methodically, trying to calm herself. When she was finished, she dug around in her little section of clothing in Yoosung's closet and found a white shawl. It wouldn't cover everything, but it would at least cover the worst ones.

 

One short ride with Driver Kim and she was at the party. There were already throngs of people lining up, and Jaehee stood watch at the front door. She nodded at Aejun and gave her a warm smile as she let her past the velvet ropes. Immediately, she headed through security workers, waiters and waitresses to find the Choi family. She spotted the messy mop of red hair and made a bee line for it. She found the twins, but didn't see Emma anywhere.

"She wanted to stay home with the twins." Saeyoung responded to her questioning glances. He stifled a yawn and she noticed the dark circles under his eyes. She looked Saeran up and down and decided that he cleaned up very,  _very_ well. When her eyes made their way back up to his face, he was looking away with a slight redness in his cheeks. Luckily, his insane other half was too tired to notice the exchange. 

 

The other members arrived and the night went off without a hitch. When it came time to dance, Aejun practically dragged Saeran onto the dance floor, eliciting curious glances from the RFA members. He couldn't really dance that well, but she enjoyed having his arms wrapped around her, embracing her warmly. She could feel the heat from all of their previous encounters in the way his hands gripped her waist- clenching and unclenching, as if fighting the urge to take her right there on the dance floor. Saeran dipped his lips to her ear.

"Move in with me." He said, his breathe tickling the sensitive skin. 

"What??" She couldn't believe what she'd heard. She pushed back a bit to look into his eyes. They reminded her of the way the sun would shine through the leaves on the trees she would climb as a kid. 

"Move in with me." He said again. She could see how serious he was. 

"But...how? I don't exactly have a job yet." She admitted.

"I do. And it pays fairly well so..." He waggled his eyebrows. It was so uncharacteristic of him that Aejun had to laugh. 

"Yeah, sure. Let's do it."

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the dance floor, Yoosung was questioning the members of RFA like it was an interrogation and lives were at risk. 

"ZEN! You know something, don't you?? They're dating, aren't they?? Look at her! AH! She just smiled! Jaehee, don't they look like they're plotting?! You're a girl, what does that smile mean? Jumiiin, help meeee...send your security guards over there and question them! Where's Seven?? He'll know how to read some of this!" Jaehee quietly removed the 14th glass of champagne from Yoosung's hand and led him to a quieter part of the party to lay down. It was the same place they stowed Saeyoung when he had begun to literally fall asleep while standing up.

 

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When move-in day came for the two, pretty much everyone had figured out that the two were dating and chose not to disclose it. Pretty much everyone was okay with that except for Yoosung. He wanted confirmation because at this point, it had turned into a war of attrition that he felt Saeran was winning. It had been about 6 months since the party, so by this point they should've just given up. But the little gamer kid's reactions were so hilarious, they just couldn't give it up. He almost cried as the last box was moved into the spacious apartment.

"How did you pay for this, anyway?" Asked Zen as he plopped down the box.

"I don't want to talk about it." Saeran responded shyly. 

"It was me~" A slightly loopy Saeyoung entered the apartment with a baby slung to his front and back.

"Saeyoung put the down payment on it, and I'm helping him with the database security for C&R to pay for it." He begrudgingly responded. 

Saeran and Aejun were pretty tired after the day of moving, so they started to usher everyone out pretty soon after that. Yoosung held his ground and gripped the door frame as his older sister struggled to push him out. 

"NO!! JUST ADMIT IT! I WON'T LEAVE UNTIL YOU ADMIT IT!" He yelled defiantly. 

"Yoosung, if you don't let go, I swear to God I will tell mom that you were the one that kept stealing her JCPenney catalogs!" Aejun shouted back. Yoosung turned beat red and let his fingers slip. The door slammed directly in front of his face. Defeated, he started his walk back home. They had specifically chosen an apartment that was close to the therapy center that they both attended, so the walk wouldn't be too bad. 

Aejun snuggled into Saeran's arms while he relaxed on the couch. She playfully nipped on his arm and he mussed her hair.

"So, should we tell him?" She said deviously, kissing the corner of his mouth lightly.

"That we're engaged? Nah, he'll figure it out."

She giggled looked up at him, admiring the lines in his face etched with all of the experiences he had endured so far. She hoped that from now on, she could make some smile lines appear that overtook the evidence of abuse and self- harm. She knew he would do the same for her.

 


End file.
